During the past few years tremendious strides have been made in providing both profession and private applicators of rodenticide products with safe methods for housing these substances.
Now, for the first time, rodent erradication can be carried out utilizing poisons in devices that totally isolate them from potential cntamination of the surrounding environment, while providing ready access to the target species.
Some of the prior art devices which have been developed to contain and deliver these powerful poisoned baits are characterized by U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,561,440 11/1925 Hanson . . . 43/131, 2,480,724 8/1949 Feussner . . . 43/131, 2,568,168 9/1951 Query . . . 43/131, 2,628,089 1/1953 Osfar . . . 222/561, 2,690, 029 9/1954 Mullen . . . 43/131, 2,725,664 12/1955 Mullen 43/131, 3,352,053 11/1967 Anderson 43/131, 4,026,064 5/1977 Baker 43/131, 4,349,982 9/1982 Sherman 43/131, 4,541,198 9/1985 Sherman 43/131, 4,400,904 8/1983 Baker 43/131 and Foreign Pat. No. 648419 1/1937 Federal Republic of Germany 43/131.
Although these inventions advanced the state of the art in the containment of poisoned baits they failed to take into consideration the ease of operation needed to make the products a viable method of large scale use in everyday operations by providing security along with a method of closure and reopening that would conform to the materials used in todays technology for the fabrication of "tamper-proof" rodent bait stations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of ease of closure and reopening of the "tamper-proof" containers that will allow them to last longer and will insure their secure seal in day to day operations for many years.
Specifically, this invention improves on the SHERMAN U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,198 by providing a locking mechanism that will survive continous usage and still allow the fabrication of the "tamper-proof" baiter of various materials in high volume production.
Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a flexible locking device that has restricted movement, even under significant force, in order to prevent the compromise of the locking device.
With the introduction of poisoned baits to the general public, it becomes even more necessary to provide a fool proof method of security to prevent accidental exposure to these baits from children, pets, and wildlife.
The instant invention significantly improves on the prior art by developing a closure that will withstand constant usage and allow the public the opportunity of safely using baits for long term rodent control and, conforms to the technologies of materials the could possibly be compromised in constant use.